The Damsel in Distress Syndrome
A while back, I posted a little story about a man asking me if I needed help while I was putting oil in my car. His response when I said no was “An independent woman, I like it”.
The thing is, it’s 2012. It shouldn’t be surprising OR impressive that a woman knows how to add oil to her car. I don’t consider myself strong or independent because I can unscrew a cap and pour liquid into a hole. I consider myself an adult with an old car. It’s just something you have to do from time to time if you want your old car to keep running.
It amazes me that women still subscribe to the Knight in Shining Armor school of thought when it comes to dating. Women shouldn’t need to be rescued by a man. Nor should they need to be completed by one. It feels to me the like danger in that it takes the onerous of being responsible for one’s life and pushes it on someone else. I picture women wandering around who are half-people, or helplessly rolling around in some street somewhere because the big, strong man that fate has determined for them hasn’t shown up yet.
Or worse, that there are women who think that their life is still incomplete. They’re still waiting for their life to happen because they haven’t been rescued yet. Or they think that life can’t be enjoyed fully because their Knight has ridden in yet. So, they jump from peasant to peasant in the hopes that one will reveal himself to be the knight she’s meant to be with. Meanwhile, her fear of being alone and the need to be completed slowly deplete her sense of self-worth and soon, she doesn’t know who she is if she’s not attached to someone else.
Women, you do not need to be rescued. You have so much power - so much strength, if you just take a moment to find it. Life has so much more potential and possibility when you stop thinking that you can’t do something because of who or what you are. Life is so much more amazing when you start thinking that you CAN do ANYTHING because of who you are. A human being.
